KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait's Parliament could be suspended for up to two years, threatening more political uncertainty after the cabinet resigned over a dispute with MPs, lawmakers and newspapers said yesterday.
Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi adjourned a parliamentary session scheduled for Tuesday after informing lawmakers that the government's resignation had been accepted by the ruler of the Gulf state.
Khorafi had warned at a public rally on Monday that the emirate was "passing through a dark night," and that "a dark cloud was hovering over us."
Kuwait has been rocked by a series of political crises in recent years and has also been hit hard by the world economic meltdown and the plunge in global oil prices.
Prominent liberal MP Mohammad Al-Sager said there were signs that Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah could dissolve the 50-seat assembly without calling for fresh elections within 60 days as required by the consitution.
"There is plenty of talk in parliament and political circles that there is an intention to suspend parliament. I hope this is untrue," Sager told reporters.
Around two dozen young Kuwaiti men and women gathered outside the parliament building carrying banners and shouting slogans calling for the suspension but dispersed after guards prevented them from entering the building.
Quoting "well-informed sources," Al-Qabas newspaper said a suspension - which would be the third in Kuwait - was the most likely scenario to resolve political crises that have rocked the emirate for the past three years.
Al-Siyassah said the move could last up to two years and be accompanied by a number of measures to "put the Kuwaiti house in order."
Sheikh Sabah on Monday accepted the government's resignation and asked it to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed.
